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Introduction

The "Intelligent Design" Movement tries to avoid the pitfalls of
traditional creationism with a multitude of illusions,
misrepresentations and myths. Here are my Top Ten Candidates!

Myth #10: Methodological
naturalism is the same as Philosophical
naturalism

Science does not say that miracles and the supernatural can't
exist - however, they don't make good scientific hypotheses. A famous
Sydney Harris cartoon shows this well: "Then a miracle occurs"
appears in the midst of equations on a blackboard, and a scientist
says to the writer "I think you should be more explicit here in step
2." Indeed!

What does science really say? National Academy of Science: "In
science, explanations are restricted to those that can be inferred
from confirmable data - the results obtained through observations and
experiments that can be substantiated by other scientists. Anything
that can be observed or measured is amenable to scientific
investigation. Explanations that cannot be based on empirical
evidence are not a part of science." NAP, Evolution and the Nature of
Science

The Bible Code is
an example of a "Miracle" that has been described in sufficient
detail - explicitly
- to allow for scientific testing. This very elaborate method is
supposed to produce hidden messages, but only in the Torah.
However, this method can be applied to other, "mundane" texts, and
these hold detailed hidden messages also,
disproving the claim. Even the word
GENERALIZATION
, shows a bonafide hidden NAZI as an equidistant letter sequence
(ELS).

Myth #9: ID is
Science

Philosophical Naturalism/Materialism - the belief that Nature is
All there is, that there is no God or Gods, etc. - is indeed a
religious belief that has no place in a public school science
classroom.

Science teachers should stick to mainstream science, and leave the
students to their own philosophical conclusions. However, they should
take care to teach science, not unsupported hypotheses or special
interest pseudoscience.

An example of a pseudoscientific claim unworthy of being taught
can be found in the "Apollo Landings were a Hoax" movement, which has
books, videos, web sites and television shows showing the supposed
evidence. One of the arguments from Bart Sibrel's Apollo Lunar
Landing Hoax website says that shadows in photographs of
astronauts on the moon can't be from sunlight, because they're not
parallel. But this phenomenon is easily explained by anyone who has
seen train tracks recede into the distance.

ID explains nothing about biology, except that everything is too
darn complex to have just evolved. But science needs
explanations to put to the test. Science has to explain the
world in Detail.

Dembski has said "An argument from ignorance is still better than
a pipe dream in which you're deluding yourself."

No, an argument from ignorance doesn't predict any details, and
can't be tested!

Question: What do Rats have that Humans and Gorillas and
Chimps don't?

Answer: Rats make their own ascorbic acid, as do many animals.
Primates can't (mutations), guinea pigs can't (other mutations). How
does ID explain this? Did the Designer Goof? Why hasn't there been a
Design Modification? Humans v2.1.1? Why do Apes have the same
Errors?

Evolution does
explain this: primates share similar gene errors because they
were "copied" from the same source - our common ancestor, who
survived mutations with changes in diet!

Myth #8: ID is Not
Creationism

Designs, such as a blueprint for Thoreau's Walden Pond cabin, are
simply idle curiosities until they are used to build something. The
Embodiments of Design are Creations, like the actual Walden Pond
cabin. We're talking about real hardware, like the bacterial
flagellum. It's a misrepresentation to say that "design" isn't really
about "creation."

Walter ReMine is a
Fellow of the Discovery Institute, and an Assertive Creationist. I
had to check with Mark Edwards to see if he was in fact a Fellow with
the Discovery Institute. (He is.)

Try logging in to www.creation-science.com
- this directs browsers directly to the site of the domain name
owner, Access Research Network (an ID site).

Creationism (represented by Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting
of God touching Adam) is just like Intelligent Design (represented by
the Discovery
Institute's former logo, showing the Sistine Chapel God, but
touching DNA instead of Adam). Both are based on a Super-Natural
Being or Beings who "Poof" Things Into Existence (Adam & Eve,
DNA, Bacterial Flagellum, etc.)

Creationism

Intelligent
Design

Myth #7:Evolution is
Darwinism

IDers would have us think that any criticism of Darwin is
criticism of "evolution."

IDNet-NM quotes paleontologist Robert Carroll on "... how wrong
Darwin was in extrapolating the pattern of long-term evolution from
that observed within populations and species."

But, what does Robert Carroll really think of evolution? "Most
important, all organisms are linked to one another by a common
genetic heritage. All the millions of living species are the product
of continuous evolutionary change since their origin from a common
ancestry more than 3.5 billion years ago. ..."

Myth #7 Corollary: Evolution is
Atheism

ID labels evolution as Atheism for political gain... But, Many
Religions are OK with Evolution. The Bible, in particular, leaves
plenty of room for evolution or other natural processes: Isaiah
55:8, 9 "For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither
[are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

The fact that IDnet-NM, Rev. Brickley and others insist that
"theistic
evolution" is nonsensical, or illogical, an oxymoron, etc.
indicates that "ID" is Based on Religious Beliefs about just what God
Should or Shouldn't Do. Teaching that evolution is atheism infringes
on religious freedom.

Myth #6: The Government Supports
ID

The "No Child Left Behind" Education Act does not call for the
teaching of "Intelligent Design." ... The Santorum Language does not
Appear in the Final Version of the Education Bill ... only in the
explanatory report of the conference committee.

The NCLB law itself contains strict prohibitions against the
federal government mandating academic achievement standards. "Part I
... prohibits the federal government from mandating specific
instructional content, academic achievement standards and
assessments, curriculum, or program of instruction...."

Myth #5: Historical Sciences are
Different than Experimental Sciences

IDnet-NM declares
that "The development of modern theories of physics and chemistry
are based on experimental science where scientists can make direct
observations in nature ... the study of historical events and
processes introduces special problems for scientists because the
events and processes themselves cannot be directly observed and
experiments cannot be conducted to evaluate hypothesized
cause-and-effect relationships. Biological evolution is a historical
science. ..."

Now, if no one witnesses a given murder, and it can't be
"repeated" in a lab, should the suspect be freed? Certainly NOT, if
there is evidence linking the suspect to the crime (fingerprints,
DNA, hairs, and all that CSI stuff - the more the better).

"Every new fossil found, every newly discovered plant or animal,
every anatomical or molecular comparison of various life forms, is a
'repeat observation' of evolution." D. Thomas, "Bad Science Sneaks
Into Schools," Albuquerque Journal, August 31, 1996.

Myth #4: All Major Forms Appear
Abruptly in the Cambrian Explosion

J. Wells states
that "...according to the fossil record all the major types of
animals appeared abruptly about 550 million years ago... This
'Cambrian explosion' of living things contradicts the branching-tree
pattern predicted by Darwin's theory."

However, these "major types" of animals don't include amphibians,
reptiles, birds, and mammals, which all came into being hundreds of
millions of years after the Cambrian explosion, with extant fossil
records showing common descent. Wells wrote me on 4-21-99, saying "I
used 'major types' instead of 'phyla' because of the audience I was
addressing... As you correctly point out, the various classes of
vertebrates arose later; but the chordate phylum is represented in
the Cambrian fauna."

95% THEBE CS GRARDEUR IN THIS VIEW YF LIFE, WITH ITS SUVERAL
POWERS, HAQING BEEC ORIGINALLY BREATHED BY THE CREATOR INTO A FEW
FORMS OR INTO ONE

The 20% and 50% versions are not intelligible, in contrast to
proteins, for which 20% similarity can be enough to produce an
identical function. The cytochrome c proteins of humans are only 50%
similar to those of yeast, yet function perfectly when genetically
engineered into yeast. DNA is unlike any designed human language.

Dembski's NFL (No Free Lunch) claim, "Evolutionary (Genetic)
Algorithms perform no better than Chance (when averaged over all
possible fitness functions)" has been found irrelevant by many
reviewers. Evolution isn't averaged over all possible environments -
why should genetic algorithms? See Also Lenski, R.E., C. Ofria, R.T.
Pennock & C. Adami, 2003. The
evolutionary origin of complex features. Nature 423: 139-144, 8
May 2003, for a demonstration of how such algorithms do
produce complexity.

Myth #1: It's Only Fair to "Teach
the Controversy"

Taking "cuts" isn't fair, but IDers are trying to cut into the
line that starts with the proposal of a new "scientific idea," and
ends in its acceptance for teaching in schools.

Conclusion

"Intelligent Design" is simply a modified
version of Creationism.

But, even with the references to a creator or
creation carefully sanitized, ID remains a collection of
pseudoscientific arguments, lacking real substance, that are no more
deserving of presentation in science classes than are Apollo Hoax
claims.

Inside the conference, during my presentation, I was asked
"what will it take to stop calling us (IDer's)
creationists?" Outside, the Creation Research Society sold
books, including the ID Favorite "Of Pandas and People." CD's of
creationist symposia, and copies of creationist books like Walter
ReMine's "The Biotic Message" were also available.

These images were taken in the registration area for the
Darwin, Design and Democracy V conference at UNM on September
25, 2004.